Ranchi, July 30 (IANS) Jharkhand Chief Minister, Hemant Soren, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to enhance financial assistance for scholarship schemes benefiting students from Scheduled Tribes (ST), Scheduled Castes (SC), Backward Classes (BC), and minority communities in the state.
He said that due to the release of funds far below the state’s requirements, lakhs of eligible students are unable to receive scholarships on time, which is adversely affecting their education.
In his letter, the Chief Minister stated that the Jharkhand government has implemented a scholarship distribution system based on the annual income of a student’s parents or guardians, rather than community affiliation, to ensure social justice and equality.
However, the state’s geographical challenges, limited resources, and a large underprivileged population continue to create financial constraints, he said.
Highlighting the funding gap, Soren noted that under the pre-matric scholarship scheme for Backward Class students, the state had sought Rs 66.14 crore for 2024-25 but received only Rs 12.61 crore from the Centre. For 2025-26, against a demand of Rs 45.91 crore, only Rs 3.95 crore has been sanctioned.
A similar shortfall was reported in the post-matric scholarship scheme. The state sought Rs 353.21 crore for 2024-25 but received only Rs 33.57 crore. For 2025-26, it requested Rs 370.87 crore, while only Rs 58.22 crore has been released.
According to the Chief Minister, the funding deficit has prevented the students from receiving scholarship benefits on time.
Soren further stated that central support for scholarship programmes aimed at Scheduled Tribe students has also been inadequate. He pointed out that no funds were released by the Centre during the 2025-26 financial year for either pre-matric or post-matric scholarships for ST students. The Rs 200 crore released in 2024-25, he said, largely pertained to arrears and partial central contributions from previous years.
The Chief Minister also highlighted the disparities in scholarship, saying that the pre-matric scholarship amount for ST students is Rs 3,000 per student, compared to Rs 3,500 for SC students and Rs 4,000 for Backward Class students, and urged the Centre to remove this disparity.
Referring to minority welfare, Soren said that although minorities constitute 23.29 per cent of Jharkhand’s population, the Centre has not released any funds under minority scholarship schemes since 2021-22. He requested that the scheme be revived and financial support resumed.
The Chief Minister urged the Prime Minister to formulate a special policy for economically weaker and developing states and increase the Centre’s contribution to post-matric scholarships and other welfare schemes to ensure uninterrupted educational support for deserving students.
–IANS
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